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Atherton will soon see its very first roundabout. At its Oct. 16 meeting, the Atherton City Council approved a contract with Kimley-Horn and Associates, a traffic engineering and design consulting firm, to prepare designs for the installation of the roundabout at the intersection of Alameda de las Pulgas and Atherton Avenue.
During the meeting, the council and commenters expressed concerns about the accelerated timeline of the project due to grant requirements, traffic impacts to neighboring houses and lack of driver experience with roundabouts. However, many more were in support of the installation of a roundabout at the intersection, and the council ultimately unanimously decided to move forward with the roundabout concept for the intersection.
Alameda de las Pulgas is one of the most traveled roads in Atherton. The road often gets congested during rush hours as commuters pass through the town. A traffic study done by the town showed that as much as 89% of the daily traffic volume on Alameda de las Pulgas is pass-through traffic.
The intersection of Alameda de las Pulgas and Atherton Avenue is one of the most problematic along the stretch of Alameda that runs through Atherton. Currently, the stop sign there can cause backups and long lines of cars down both streets at the intersection, according to a Sept. 4 staff report. The staff report also notes that there have been several collisions resulting in injuries at this intersection since 2019.
The town conducted a feasibility study in early 2024 to see if that intersection could be converted into a roundabout to help improve safety. Following the completion of the study, the council found that installing a roundabout is feasible, and would be preferable to installing a traffic signal.
“Implementing a roundabout at the intersection of Alameda de las Pulgas and Atherton Avenue … could significantly improve traffic flow, enhance safety for all users and provide a long-term solution for the town of Atherton,” the feasibility study report states.
The roundabout design and construction is being financed by a $2 million federal Community Project Funding grant through U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo’s office. However, this funding requires that the project must be fast-tracked; all $2 million must be allocated by Sept. 30, 2025.
There is not yet an estimate for how much the project will cost, but it is likely to be more than the $2 million awarded by the grant, according to Atherton’s Director of Public Works Robert Ovadia at the council’s Oct. 16 meeting. The design phase for the project is contracted to cost no more than $669,977. This cost is reimbursable through the federal grant.
Some commenters expressed concern about the cost of the project, as well as the safety of roundabouts, as they are less familiar to many drivers.
However, there was otherwise strong support for the concept of a roundabout at that intersection from most other commenters.
“All over the world, especially roundabouts in Europe, are much safer than traffic lights, particularly for cyclists,” said Laura Lauder, a resident who lives near the intersection. “Cyclists understand the idea of going through a roundabout very smoothly, and everyone is going relatively slowly, which is wonderful. Whereas with a light, people tend to go very quickly when it turns green.”
Resident Gary Lauder even created a website supporting the proposal for a roundabout in Atherton, athertonroundabout.com.
During discussion, council members expressed concern about the compressed timeline for the project that the stipulations of the grant require.
“The timing in terms of the grant is something that I’ve been concerned about,” said Council member Rick DeGolia. “We need to get the design done and the construction contracts committed in order to secure that grant money.”
Council member Bill Widmer said he was concerned that, due to the short project timeline, the council would need to accept any design that comes along, with limited opportunities to provide feedback.
“If the design comes in and it’s crappy, … we could just say ‘forget it,’” said DeGolia. “And yes it’s going to cost us money … but the most important thing is that we do the right thing.”
Following discussion, the council opted to move forward with the design process, but made some modifications to ensure that preserving ingress and egress from nearby driveways would be prioritized in the design.
“I would like, in writing, that they pay a lot of attention to driveway access for those properties,” said Council member Stacy Miles Holland.
The council also asked that as the project progresses through the design phase, that the plans come back to the council for opportunities to view and comment on the design.
City Manager George Rodericks said in an email to The Almanac that the town hopes to see preliminary designs by the first quarter of 2025. Since the designs have not yet been completed, there is not yet an estimate for how much the roundabout will cost in total.
A video of the Oct. 16 meeting can be viewed below:
What a mistake. Another step along the way of this council destroying Atherton as you know it.
Studies that compare people’s attitudes before roundabouts are built to afterwards show dramatic shifts from negativity before, to positivity afterwards (33%–>72%). Fear is the unknown. See p.40 of https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/00067/00067.pdf
Last month The Economist had an article https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/09/05/what-to-do-about-americas-killer-cars which said:
“It may seem arcane, but the lack of roundabouts in suburban and rural America is a big cause of deaths. Replacing intersections would save thousands of lives a year.”
The alternative would be a traffic light. Compared to a traffic light, the additional benefits of a roundabout are:
• MUCH safer: multiple studies have similar findings:
o Fatalities drop by 90%
o Injury accidents reduce by ~75%
o Crashes roughly halve.
o 30-40 percent reduction in pedestrian crashes
o Single-lane roundabouts are safer for bikers than traffic signals (sources: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/which-is-safer-for-bicyclists-tTu.udjcQ_uzSrq9YvPDFQ)
• Less noise: less brakes squealing, diesel trucks accelerating and less honking with gridlock.
• Get through the intersection faster without having to wait for the light to change.
• So increases road capacity by 30-50%, so less backup, so less cut-through traffic (which is a major complaint of residents).
• Less energy used from acceleration, which means:
• Fewer pollutants emitted that waft into your homes (nor greenhouse gasses).
o For every 1ppm of Carbon Monoxide, 1% increased risk of hospitalization (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090831213225.htm)
• Construction disruption can be even less than for a traffic light with modular roundabouts.
• They can also be beautiful.
A welcome development. Stop signs are incredibly confusing for foreigners – especially 4-way ones – who goes first, is the order going round clockwise or anticlockwise, do you have to make eye contact with other drivers? A roundabout makes it clear who has the right of way. Roundabouts (including what are sometimes known as traffic circles when smaller) can be implemented temporarily if drivers are nervous. https://www.cityofepa.org/publicworks/page/temporary-traffic-circles
Check out Carmel Indiana that has lots of roundabouts.
https://www.carmel.in.gov/government/departments-services/engineering/roundabouts
Roundabouts can also calm traffic on a road without stop signs that has side streets leading into with stop signs. The side roads can have queues that may be mitigated with a roundabout. If you want to turn left on to a main road, coming out of a side street, you don’t need to wait for both directions of traffic to be clear, only the traffic coming in from your left needs to cease, then you get on the roundabout and don’t need to wait as long.